No alarm bells in Shiv Sena over Devendra Fadnavis' 'powerful CM' remark

The Shiv Sena does not see anything wrong with Maharashtra Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' comment that he considers himself a "powerful CM." "With Sena joining the government, we have a very good majority and a stable government after many years. That was not the case during the earlier rule," Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe told PTI.

"Many CMs so far have worked with the support of independent MLAs and even if a group of 5 or 10 MLAs took another view, there was an issue," Gorhe said.

"But now that we have full strength, there are no hurdles as far as policy decisions are concerned," she said.

"We also share power in Delhi," the Sena leader said.

"Fadnavis has been a studious MLA and has his own views on issues like finance and Hindutva. He has been speaking within and outside the House," Gorhe said. There are no alarm bells ringing in the Shiv Sena over Fadnavis calling himself a powerful CM, she added.

At an event organised by a media house in Mumbai on Saturday, Fadnavis had said his government would not suffer from obstacles of any kind.

"Our decisions are taken neither in Dilli (New Delhi) nor in 'gulli' (bylanes of Mumbai). I take all the decisions of the government because I am a powerful chief minister," Fadnavis had said. The chief minister's statement is being seen as a subtle warning to the Sena, as in the state political lexicon, the word 'gulli' denotes the Sena, a party which grew in the city's bylanes.